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Former Republican presidential candidate New Gingrich lashed out Karl Rove on Sunday over the suggestion that Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) could be murdered to prevent Republicans from losing the Senate race in Missouri.

During a Thursday fundraiser for his conservative super PAC, Rove had joked that Republicans should find a way to end Akin's Senate bid after he suggested that women could not get pregnant through "legitimate rape."

“We should sink Todd Akin,” Rove said. “If he’s found mysteriously murdered, don’t look for my whereabouts!”

Gingrich told an NBC panel on Sunday that it was a mistake to force Akin out of the race.

"Karl Rove said some terrible things on Friday for which he has apologized, which should remind us that people make mistakes," the former House Speaker explained.

"He was joking about if he shows up, he murdered someone," NBC host David Gregory noted.

"In the age of [former Arizona Rep.] Gabby Giffords it is not a joke to say that a member of congress ought to get murdered," Gingrich insisted.

"When a majority of the people in Missouri on Friday -- in the latest PPP poll -- said he should stay on the ticket -- a majority of Democrats, a majority of Republicans, a majority of independents. He won the primary. Now for Washington figures -- remember, the same Washington figures who last time wanted to kick off Marco Rubio for Charlie Crist, who will be in Charlotte [at the Democratic National Convention]. I just think that people ought to be a little cautious in saying the voters of Missouri don't count."

Gingrich is just the latest high-profile conservative to blast the Republican strategist over his remarks about Akin.

Over the weekend, anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly called for Rove to resign, saying his comments were "incredibly offensive and dangerous."

Fox News host Mike Huckabee, who has been one of Akin's top defenders, also cited Giffords when suggesting that conservatives should now shun Rove.

"In light of the attempted assassination of congresswoman Gabby Giffords, the remark was disturbing," Huckabee wrote on Saturday. "If Todd is continued to be alienated and Karl doesn’t suffer the same fate, then I will encourage all the activists I can to spend all their time, money, and effort in Missouri. If the party doesn’t want us, then I guess they don’t need us. Akin will. Janet and I are sending him the maximum we can under federal law."

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A Republican candidate and law enforcement officer in California is promising to "take Linda Sanchez out" in a campaign ad against the incumbent Democratic representative that features an animated machine gun.

In the 5-minute commercial posted to YouTube on Monday, a machine is seen blasting away at a wall to reveal the message, "Jorge Robles for Congress: Take Linda Sanchez Out of Office."

The ad goes on to declare that Rep. Linda Sanchez is a "hot mess" because she has not paid off her student loans and "has problems budgeting her lifestyle."

It concludes with the animation of a machine gun again firing at a wall with Sanchez's name on it.

Robles campaign manager Robert Davis pointed to the candidate's job as a state parole agent as an explanation for the violent imagery.

"Mr. Robles is in law enforcement, if you’re not aware of that, so I think it’s his way of just kind of sending our message," Davis told Politicker. "We’re going after Linda Sanchez, not in the way that portrays it to be if you’re thinking like that."

Sanchez is in a three-way race with Robles and Republican accountant Benjamin Campos in the heavily-Democratic 38th District. The primary is being held on Tuesday, but because of the top-two primary format, Sanchez will almost certainly face one of the Republicans again in November.

Last year, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was shot in Arizona after former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) put her on a "target list" that included an image of crosshairs over the congresswoman's district.

Robles did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

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It appears Ted Nugent's violent rhetoric at the NRA convention over the weekend may not be the only problem facing the Romney campaign with their acceptance of his endorsement. Jason Easley at Politicus USA reports that Nugent apparently had a penchant for messing around with underage teenage girls when he was in his thirties and out on the road touring.

The term "pedophile" is not technically correct for what Ted Nugent was doing, but it doesn't make it any less disgusting that the man was out there talking the parents of teenage girls into allowing him to have sex with their underage daughters.

Here's more from their post -- Is Mitt Romney Aware That Ted Nugent Is a Self-Admitted Pedophile?:

Mitt Romney’s Ted Nugent problems are much worse than the rocker’s threats against President Obama. Romney’s real issue is that he has accepted the endorsement of an admitted pedophile.

The Romney campaign reacted to Nugent’s comments tepidly, “Divisive language is offensive no matter what side of the political aisle it comes from. Mitt Romney believes everyone needs to be civil.” What Mitt Romney didn’t do was distance himself from Ted Nugent, or else he risks alienating the fringe right that he is still oh so desperately trying to court.

Romney’s Ted Nugent problem is about to get a whole lot worse if the mainstream media ever decides to report that Mittens has not rebuked a self-admitted pedophile. In a 1998 episode of VH1’s Behind The Music, Ted Nugent admitted to being a serial pedophile. VH1 politely phrased this as, “his weakness for young women.”

Lawrence O'Donnell went after Nugent for his draft dodging during Vietnam tonight, but he didn't mention this. I wonder if Romney is still going want Nugent's endorsement if the media picks up on this story as well. Given Nugent's history of violent rhetoric, you've got to wonder why Romney thought chasing after this guy for an endorsement was a good idea in the first place. Now we can add bragging about potential serial statutory rape, depending on just how young and what states these girls lived in, to the list of why his campaign should not have touched Nugent with a ten foot pole.

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Failed Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin all but endorsed Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Saturday, saying Florida voters should "rage against the machine, vote for Newt."

Fox News host Jeanine Pirro asked the former Alaska governor how Gingrich could claim that he was not a Washington insider after being in Congress for 20 years, including serving as the Speaker of the House.

"Look at the players in the establishment who are fighting so hard against him," Palin explained. "They want to crucify him because he's tapped into that average, everyday tea party grassroots movement that has said enough is enough of the establishment that tries to run the show and tweak rules and laws and regulations for for their own good, and not for our nation's own good. Well, when both party machines -- and many in the media -- are trying to crucify Newt Gingrich for bucking the tide, and bucking the establishment, that tells you something.

She added: "And I say, you know, you got to rage against the machine at this point in order to defend our republic and save what is good and secure and prosperous about our nation. ... So, if for no other reason, rage against the machine, vote for Newt. Annoy a liberal, vote Newt."

Even though polls show otherwise, Palin insisted that Gingrich was also the candidate that had the best chance at beating President Barack Obama in the general election.

"I think that comes down to who can articulate their ideas, their solutions best," she said. "And in a campaign, the way that you articulate that is in a debate. And I've appreciated, again, Newt Gingrich's, his style in debates, his thinking, his way of explaining what it is that he stands for. So I think that in a debate, Newt Gingrich would clobber Barack Obama."

Using violent rhetoric to describe how Gingrich would fair against Obama is nothing new for Fox News employees like Sarah Palin. Last week, Fox News host Steve Doocy claimed that Gingrich would "take off the head of the president" during a debate.

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Keith Olbermann didn't parse any words during his Worst Persons segment on Countdown this Thursday and went after Sen. Tom Coburn for his eliminationist rhetoric where he said that “It’s just a good thing I can’t pack a gun on the Senate floor." And then as John already noted, proceeded to attack President Obama as an affirmative action recipient and claimed the country was better off before we had Medicare in place.

Keith called for Coburn to resign and I agree with him. Not that he's going to care what anyone thinks since he's not running for reelection anyway.

OLBERMANN: But when he moved from health care and casual racism to the debt ceiling deal, Sen. Coburn took a step down from the simply mean spirited, out of touch, whiny elitism which has marked his political career and moved towards ineligibility for the office which he holds.

He called his colleagues “cowards” and then added “It's just a good thing I can't pack a gun on the Senate floor.”

Yes it is, but apparently that's insufficient protection for the rest of us. For a sitting U.S. Senator to say in public that he even daydreams or jokes about the prospect of shooting other Senators is not just to ignore the supposed lessons of the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords and the other victims of Tuscon. It is not just to ignore the years before the Civil War when Congressman Preston Brooks of Georgia went up to Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts in the Senate chamber and beat him into unconsciousness with a cane and kept him out of office for a year.

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Well, no big surprise that Mike Huckabee decided he was enjoying his well-paying gig over at Fox News so much that he's not going to run for president in 2012. If we weren't sure before he made it official tonight, this appearance by Ted Nugent on his show just prior to his "big announcement" should have tipped everyone off.

Nugent was asked what he thought about the killing of Osama bin Laden and although Nugent praised the decision to go in and get him, he downplayed the importance of them finally killing him by saying it didn't really matter that much in the overall "war on terror." Anyone think he wouldn't have been dancing around praising Bush as the best president ever if this had happened under Bush's watch?

And for all the talk from Huckabee about being a Christian and a man of god, why is he allowing someone who spouts off the kind of inflammatory, violent rhetoric we heard out of Nugent here on his show? I think we all know the answer to that, but I find it pretty ironic after all of the yelping over the rapper Common coming to the White House, on the night that one of the Republican Party's supposed "front runners" was potentially going to announce whether he was running for president or not, he chooses to bring someone like Nugent on to spout this nonsense:

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